Rick, Glenn, and Hershel have a shootout with another group of survivors and save one of the rival members from certain death at the hands (mouths) of the walkers.

Daryl is tired of being an “errand boy” and lashes out at Carol for not keeping an eye on Sophia.

Shane lies to Lori about the safety of her husband to get her back to the farm.

Glenn is upset that he only thought of himself when Rick and Hershel were depending on him.

Shane tells Lori that they are meant to be together and that Rick is going to get them all killed. He also believes he is the father of her unborn child.

The farm doesn’t know what to do with their “new member” after he gets healthy.

Shane Saves the Day…Again: Does anyone else see the pattern? Someone finds trouble. Shane finds a way to help. Then Shane gets blamed for being right. So far he has only: saved Lori and Carl when Rick was comatose, risked his life to get supplies for Carl’s surgery, spearheaded the movement to kill the walkers in the barn, and saved Lori from a suicide mission. Maybe somewhere in there was some sex he shouldn’t have had, and a guy he probably shouldn’t have left for dead or a decision that wasn’t his to make – but where would everyone be without Shane? They might be walking dead somewhere…

Glenn Gets a Pass: Let’s get it straight Daryl, Glenn is the original errand boy! He has been thrown into the fire on several occasions and I don’t blame him for thinking about himself for once. I know it was a mental lapse at a very critical moment but everyone has their breaking point. Everyone made it out without injury but I can understand your anger Glenn. Keep it up scout!

Brothers in (Lori’s) Arms: Well we knew it was going to happen soon, right? I can understand Shane’s reasoning in regards to his feelings for Lori but he has to understand that what they had is over. This issue wasn’t going to just disappear though and the aftermath is going to, hopefully, have a drastic change on every character on the farm. Advice: Rick, don’t get into a “fair” fight with Super Shane.

Thanks for the Hospitality? Of course I’d be glad that Rick and Hershel saved me from being a midnight snack but, after such a major surgery – on my leg of all places, putting me back in the middle of nowhere isn’t really going to improve my survival chances. I am hoping that they let him stay on that he, somehow, leads his group back to the barn for a showdown.

Too Cool for the “In Crowd” Andrea knows her role and tries to tell Shane he is in the same position – even though it seems obvious that he isn’t the favorite. I don’t think they are going to leave the group entirely but if they manage to stay below the radar and make their own agenda they could manage to get more people on their side. Daryl is a likely candidate and I think Carol might even follow him. Just throwing that out there.

Lori runs into some trouble while heading to town to get the search party

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The Rift: Before Shane took it on his own to open the barn we could tell that the opinions were nowhere near unanimous in regards to killing the walkers inside. Even afterwards the debate continues on. Was Shane right? Was it his place to open the barn? I think he did the right thing and it appears the majority of the group feels the same way, they just didn’t feel it was their place to make the decision. Even though Shane’s role as the anti-hero is growing exponentially, I appreciate his ability to do what everyone is afraid to.

Dale’s Duties? I’ve been calling him a glorified mechanic since the beginning. He does nothing but get in everyone else’s affairs and cause drama. It seems obvious that he wants everyone to play by the rules and “do the right thing” but the dismal situation they find themselves in is going to require getting your hands dirty every now and again. I try not to be so critical of Dale at all times but he just grinds my gears.

Open Bar: After realizing that he was wrong about the “sickness” that causes the dead to walk Hershel heads to his former favorite watering hole to drown his sorrows. It is sad that it took such a tragedy for Hershel to realize the truth but that was exactly what he needed. Whether or not he decides to evict Rick and his group from the farm is still to be seen but I think his decision may have changed after he met Rick’s alter-ego…

Quick Draw Rick: After a confrontation with two other survivors, Dave and Tommy, Rick has to kill them in order to protect themselves as well as those back on the farm. Rick and Glenn know how difficult it is while on the road but they don’t want anymore issues with Hershel, seeing as though he is on the verge of kicking them out anyway. It appears Dave (Michael Raymond-James) was telling the truth about there being another group in the area but I want to see how they react to the news that their friends are dead. Will Rick be able to come to a diplomatic solution or will there be more bloodshed?

Lori…Be Patient: Seriously. Frank and Glenn knew they had to go to town and bring Hershel back. They weren’t going to go to the carnival and a day spa. Why was she is such a hurry to drive out there by herself?! They were in a car anyway. Now she may be in more danger than Beth is back at the farm. Is everyone in the Grimes family just THAT desperate to be comatose?

Glenn’s Announcement: “You guys, so…the barn is full of walkers”. After Glenn made this announcement – with the first dialogue of the eppy – I knew we were in for a good ol’ fashioned debate and scuffle. Of course Shane is spearheading the movement to eliminate all the walkers while Rick wants to abide by the rules of his host. Honestly, I agreed with Shane immediately. Why would I want to go to sleep every night in such close proximity to death – or something like it. We know that Hershel thinks that the walkers are still human and all but, let’s face it, they’re not. Shoot ’em in the head!

Plea Deal: Rick goes to Hershel to ask that his group is able to stay on the farm. He knows that Hershel knows about what is going on only through what he had seen on the news and Rick assures him that it is much worse actually living on the road the whole time. Rick even tells Hershel that Lori is pregnant but it doesn’t drastically change Hershel’s stance. Maggie overhears the conversation. Maggie reminds Hershel of something she had been taught by him “Love one another as I have loved you”. I can understand why Hershel is hesitant to let a group of outsiders stay with him but I also see how the pros outweigh the cons. Security and safety are top priority and with Rick’s group there he has more opportunity to protect everyone.

Shane: Shane goes to Lori and tells him that he doesn’t think Rick is able to live in “this world”. He mentions all the times that he has saved Lori, and everyone else in the group’s, lives on multiple occasions and how Rick has had the opposite affect. He also believes that Lori is pregnant with HIS child. Lori shuts all of Shane’s ideas down. Shane then goes on a hunt for Dale who has taken all the group’s guns. Shane catches Dale in the woods as he is trying to hide the guns. After a heated debate that included Dale pointing his gun at Shane, Shane gets the guns back. I don’t see how taking the group’s guns are going to help the situation at all. I think it was just Dale trying to upset Shane. Scumbag Dale is relentless and as jealous as a 16-year-old girl.

Walker Wrangling: Hershel takes Rick out to capture some walkers that are stuck in a swamp. Hershel asks Rick if he can stop killing walkers in order for him to stay on the farm. It would seem as though Rick agrees as he helps lead the zombie back to the barn instead of immediately killing it.

When The Cat Is Away…Shane hands out guns to everyone while Hershel is still out and demands that they kill all the walkers in the barn. The only people who disagree with him are Lori and Maggie. But we don’t have to wait for long until the wranglers come back with their captives. Shane blows it and gives a gruesome demonstration about how unhuman the walkers are, ultimately killing one of the newly acquired walkers. He then opens the barn so he, Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, and Daryl can kill all the undead inside…until Rick has to kill the final one…

Sophia: The group has spent the entire season so far searching for Carol’s daughter after she got separated from the group in the first episode and to have to find her this way had to have been crushing. I will admit that I felt pretty horrible about the situation but Rick did what had to be done. My real question is did Hershel and his group know she was in there the entire time. They told Hershel they were searching for a little girl and he had to know that he recently rounded one up in his barn. I think that will cause huge problems when the season returns.

Like this:

Coming into this season Shane was a small blip on my radar in terms of characters but he is steadily becoming one of my favorites. He has taken the anti-hero role I had Daryl pegged as coming into the second season. He is challenging Rick to make tough decisions by giving up on searching for Sophia. I don’t like the fact that he is still so wrapped up with Lori because at this point there can’t be anything else between them.

Daryl

On a consistent basis Daryl has been trying he hardest to find Sophia. I’m not sure if it’s because he was in the same situation when he was younger or just because she is a helpless child. Either way, kudos bro. I don’t know how his hallucinations of his brother – and getting shot – are going to affect him going forward though.

Andrea

Can someone throw her in a well filled with death already?!

Hershel

I want to be upset with Hershel for all of the obvious reasons but I understand what he is saying to Rick and his people. With Daryl losing his horse and Rick allowing Jimmy, a 17-year-old, to go searching with them without his permission is something to get upset about. Resources are clearly at a low given the whole zombie apocalypse thing and mistakes like that can’t afford to be made. I don’t know what he is trying to hide with the walkers in the hayloft though, maybe that’s why he wants the others to leave so quickly?

Highlights

Shane doesn’t agree with Rick’s plan to search for Sophia.

Daryl accidentally impales himself with an arrow while out looking for Sophia – he lost Hershel’s horse in the process.

Hershel is upset with Rick because he doesn’t feel his group in under control.

Glenn tells Dale about his relationship with Maggie. Dale warns him to not upset their host.

Hershel warns Maggie not to get too close to Rick’s group because they won’t be there long.

Andrea nearly kills Daryl as he returns to the farm by grazing him in the head with a bullet. She thought he was a walker from a distance.

Maggie asks Glenn for a late night rendezvous via note under the dinner table. Glenn suggests they meet at the hayloft and Maggie rushes to stop him. When Glenn gets there he sees that the hayloft is being used as a holding pen, of sorts, for walkers

Like this:

The episode starts with a flashback of the day Rick was shot. Lori is talking with another parent about her and Rick’s relationship when Shane drives up to tell her the news.

We then go to Rick sprinting through a field carrying a bleeding and unconscious Carl. Shane an unknown male with a hunting rifle (presumably the man who shot Carl) are behind him. The man yells that Rick keep heading to the farmhouse in the distance and “Herschel” will help. When Rick gets to the house Herschel lays Carl down and begins to treat the bullet wound. Herschel asks what Carl’s blood type is and Rick tells him that it’s A+ just like his. Herschel says that Carl will need some of Rick’s blood to survive and that he not go anywhere. The bullet broke into six fragments and he needs to remove each of them. Rick begins to breakdown and is concerned that Lori doesn’t know what happened.

As the rest of the group head back to the highway Lori is unsure why there was just one gunshot. But Daryl convinces her that they probably just took down a walker. The group still has found no sign of Sophia but they head back to the highway because it will be dark soon.

Back at the highway Dale finds out that T-Dog is in desperate need of some antibiotics. Dale and T-Dog begin searching the vehicles again to make sure they haven’t overlooked anything that can help.

At the farmhouse Herschel begins taking the first fragment from Carl. Carl is writhing in pain but passes out after the fragment is removed. Rick also begins to give his blood. Rick talks to Shane about going to get Lori but Shane tells him that he or Lori wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if Carl were to die while neither of them were around. Shane also tells Rick about Lori’s strength when Rick was comatose in the hospital. Herschel says he needs to “open (Carl) up” and stitch up some vessels but for it to happen he needs several medical supplies. He says a nearby FEMA shelter should have the supplies he needs. Shane says he will go and Otis (the man who shot Carl) volunteers to go along. He was a volunteer EMT so he knows what to get. Herschel’s daughter asks Rick what his wife’s name is. After Otis says goodbye to his wife, he and Shane drive off for the FEMA shelter.

T-Dog explains to Dale why they are the most likely candidates to be turned on by the group. Since he is black and Dale is 64 years old. He suggests that they just leave before the group return. Dale checks T-Dog’s temperature and feels that he is suffering from a fever.

Andrea gets momentarily separated from the rest of the group in the woods and gets attacked by a zombie. Herschel’s daughter rides up (on horseback) and knocks the zombie off of Andrea. She asks for Lori and tells what happened to Carl. Daryl is hesitant to let Lori go but the woman knows about them and Rick so that’s enough for Lori to trust her. The woman tells the rest of the group where to find the farm when they are ready and heads back with Lori.

Herschel tells Rick that they hope to stay at the farm and ride out the epidemic until a cure is found. Rick tells him that he and his group were at the CDC and “there is no cure”. Herschel says that he doesn’t believe it. Herschel says that ‘mankind has been fighting plagues from the start…it’s nature correcting herself. Restoring some balance”. Afterwards, Herschel’s daughter returns with Lori. Lori gets in bed next to her unconscious son while clutching Rick tightly. Lori asks about the procedure Herschel is to perform on Carl. She asks if he is a real doctor and if he has done the procedure before. Herschel says he is a veterinarian and Lori begins to doubt his ability to perform the procedure.

At the highway the group is deciding who goes to the farmhouse and who stays back in case Sophia comes back. Daryl, Dale, and Andrea say they will stay to rig up a sign for Sophia in case she returns. Glenn is told to get T-Dog to the farmhouse because he needs immediate medical attention. When Daryl hears that he goes to his motorcycle and gets a bag filled with painkillers and antibiotics he has been carrying around and gives them to T-Dog for temporary relief.

Shane and Otis arrive at the FEMA shelter to see that it is surrounded with “walkers”. Shane opens the trunk of an abandoned police cruiser and throws flares into the crowd of walkers to distract them long enough for he and Otis to get inside.

Herschel tells Carl’s parents that he needs to begin the procedure soon. Rick says that he will go to the FEMA shelter to help but Lori demands that he stay because she needs him there with her.

Shane and Otis find everything they need at the shelter. As they are leaving the walkers spot them and they run for it. They get surrounded and Shane shoots through a building window and closes the security fence behind them. It seems as though they are trapped feet away from the walkers with a single screw holding the security fence between them.